BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS A VETERAN U.S. COACH BRINGS CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS TOGETHER IN BELFAST

On a cold morning in January, 70-year-old Joe Mullaney boards atrain for the two-hour trip from Dublin to Belfast. There, at St.Malachy's School -- whose campus is hard by the infamous CrumlinRoad Jail, where a number of Irish Republican Army leaders havebeen imprisoned, and the Girdwood Barracks, a foreboding Britishgarrison post -- Mullaney conducts a basketball clinic for 35Catholic teenagers. The students, many of whom wear jerseys witheither o'neal or barkley on the back, listen attentively asMullaney warns them not to pattern their games after ShaquilleO'Neal's or Charles Barkley's or that of any other behemoth in theNBA.

``Everything is strength with Shaq and a lot of the big guys,''says Mullaney, who should know. He was the coach who putProvidence on the college basketball map in the 1950s and who,during a two-year stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, coached theteam to the seventh game of the 1970 NBA Finals against the NewYork Knicks. ``Most of them can't shoot from beyond the foulline,'' Mullaney says of the NBA giants. ``So don't try to playlike them.''

Among those at the clinic is Billy Ingram, an assistant professorof sports and leisure studies at the University of Ulster atJordanstown, who has come over to say hello to Mullaney. Ingram, aProtestant living in Belfast, coaches basketball for BelfastUnited, a program begun in Northern Ireland in 1989 by Dan Doyle.A former basketball coach at Trinity College in Hartford, Doyle isthe founder and executive director of the Institute forInternational Sport at the University of Rhode Island. BelfastUnited, a program run by the Institute, seeks to get Catholic andProtestant teenagers to play together on the same basketball team.

That is no small feat in a country where, as a rule, Catholicsand Protestants not only do not play on the same teams but alsorarely even play against each other.

Mullaney began working for Belfast United in late 1993, coachingCatholic and Protestant players in and around Belfast. Then lastJune he coached some of the same players when Belfast Unitedtraveled to the U.S. and played games against high schoolall-stars from Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

``They got killed by the American teams, but the Belfast Unitedkids got along great with each other,'' says Mullaney, who was acaptain of the underdog Holy Cross team that won the NCAAchampionship in 1947 with a freshman point guard named Bob Cousy.

When they gather for their first practice, Protestant and Catholicplayers stand apart, and there is a palpable uneasiness betweenthe two groups. But, Mullaney says, once they start playing,basketball helps them form a bond.

In an effort to bring the players still closer together, eachCatholic shares accommodations with a Protestant at a host's housewhen the team makes its annual visit to the States. ``That's thepurpose of Belfast United -- bringing young Catholics andProtestants together through the medium of sport,'' says Doyle.

Unfortunately, the players of Belfast United don't get to beteammates for more than a few months. The team roster changes eachseason so that other youths can participate. The players typicallyspend about two months practicing together before their trip tothe U.S. Because of the strict demarcation between Catholic andProtestant neighborhoods in Belfast, the players seldom meet aftertheir season.

``I've made some good friends among the Protestants I've playedwith on Belfast United,'' says Adrian Fulton, 21, one of NorthernIreland's best young athletes. He plays for the University ofUlster and for Star of the Sea in the Budweiser Super League.Sponsored by the American beer company, this league is the topechelon of Irish basketball. ``I've visited some of them in theirneighborhoods, and some of them come to my house, which neverwould have happened if it hadn't been for Belfast United.''

To help establish lasting friendships, over the past two yearsplayers have held reunions during the Christmas season. These havetaken place at ``neutral'' locations such as the University ofUlster, which has both Catholic and Protestant students. ``There'sgot to be some continuity over the long term,'' Ingram says. ``Andwe're trying to find a way.''

The racket inside the gymnasium at the Dublin City Universitysports complex is deafening. But on the far left court, whereMullaney is conducting a practice session with nine womenbasketball players, no one seems to mind the noise.

Mullaney, who will be returning to Belfast the next day, has a lotto contend with on this particular afternoon: Rock music blares as50 people take part in an aerobics class on the adjacent centercourt and 35 or so Gaelic footballers work out on the thirdcourt. Because of the din, Mullaney must raise his voice to beheard, first by the Dublin City women's team and later by themen's squad as he tries to teach the matchup defense that hedevised more than three decades ago and that is still used by manycollege basketball teams in the U.S.

Would Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor have toleratedsuch distractions at a Laker practice? Would Lenny Wilkens, JimmyWalker and John Thompson have put up with such a din when theyplayed at Providence College? Not likely. But Mullaney's currentplayers don't seem fazed. Mullaney himself, who coached all of theabove-mentioned U.S. stars, makes do without a whimper.

``Because of all the yelling I have to do to be heard, I findmyself hoarse after a practice,'' says Mullaney, who is fit, trimand able to run back-to-back two-hour practices. Neither of hisDublin City teams is about to crash the top 20, not even inIreland, where even Budweiser League basketball is overshadowed bysoccer, Gaelic football, hurling and rugby. But Dublin City isdetermined to improve its club basketball program (all collegesports in Ireland are played on the club level, as they are inmost of Europe), and thus the presence of Coach Mullaney.

In him the Irish players have a master. But after coaching at thetop levels in both college and the pros in the U.S., Mullaneyfinds himself frustrated at times as he tries to teach basketballfundamentals -- not to mention the matchup defense -- to youngpeople who in many cases would rather be playing other sports. ``Iremember how I was about to give a clinic in Belfast, and the kidswere playing soccer in the gym,'' says the coach, who ledProvidence to nine consecutive seasons of more than 20 victories(1958- 67) and who spent a total of 18 seasons coaching the Friarsduring two stints at the school. ``And they kept right on playinguntil I blew my whistle to start the clinic. They paid attentionand were enthusiastic about learning the game, but until I gottheir attention, their minds were on soccer, not basketball.''

Particularly vexing to Mullaney are the frequent absences ofplayers from his practice sessions. ``If there's a conflict, mytwo best players will practice with the Budweiser League team theyplay with. But I can understand, because university basketball isa club sport and the games don't mean a thing.''

That's true even when six-year-old Dublin City University playsits crosstown rival, 402-year-old Trinity College, as it didduring the 23-team university basketball championships held March2-5. But Mullaney still does not like to lose. ``In January themen's team lost a game to Green Mountain College from Vermont,which was on a tour of Ireland,'' says John Kerrane, the sport andrecreation director at Dublin City. ``When it was over, Joe hadfire in his eyes because the team hadn't executed some playsproperly.''

During his recent five-month stay in Ireland, his second trip tothe country, Mullaney, who was accompanied by his wife, Jane, wasgiven an apartment and reimbursed for expenses but received nosalary. That was his arrangement with Dublin City University, theInstitute for International Sport and Belfast Unlimited. NoelKeating, head of the Irish Basketball Association, says Mullaneyis having an impact in both Northern Ireland and the IrishRepublic, as well as among Catholics and Protestants on theBelfast United basketball teams.

``Joe's done a wonderful job,'' says John Sugden, a professor ofsports and leisure studies at the University of Ulster and acoordinator of the Belfast United program. ``We've had 500 yearsof strife, and the impact of Belfast United may be only a drop inthe bucket. But quite often I'll meet one of the kids who playedon the team, and he'll say, `You know, that was the best thing Iever did.' ''

COLOR PHOTO:PHOTOGRAPHS BY LANE STEWART Mullaney, who once led the Friars and the Lakers, now works with Irish and Northern Irish teams. [Joe Mullaney standing beside river] TWO COLOR PHOTOS:PHOTOGRAPHS BY LANE STEWART Mullaney has given a hand to his Dublin City club (above) and to Belfast standouts such as Fulton (right). [Joe Mullaney and his players stacking their hands together; Adrian Fulton]